Medical image diagnostic apparatuses such as an X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatus and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus include a couch device for moving a subject towards an opening of a gantry device for taking medical images. In conventional couch devices, a couchtop on which a subject is to be laid is in a flat shape. The conventional couch devices also include a moving mechanism for moving the couchtop in the forward and backward direction (longitudinal direction), and in the vertical direction. A couch device that includes a moving mechanism for moving the couchtop to the left and right (short side direction) is also known.
During a clinical examination, a patient is laid on a couchtop, the couchtop is moved in the forward and backward direction (or to the left and right), to take an image of a target portion. When a patient is laid on the couchtop before imaging takes place, the couch device moves the couchtop in the vertical direction to change the height of the couchtop, so that the patient can move smoothly onto the couchtop.
However, even if the height of the couchtop is changed to reduce the patient's burden of moving, when imaging is performed on an elderly and the like, the burdens on the patient, caregivers, or examination staffs, may remain heavy. Because it takes time to move the couch, the examination time may be increased, and the examination efficiency may be deteriorated.